After a year long search and evaluation, the European Space Agency, or ESA, presented its next six astronauts. The new recruits are slated to join the European Astronaut Corps and start their training to prepare for future missions to the International Space Station.

The new astronauts are:

Samantha Cristoforetti, Italian;

Alexander Gerst, German;

Andreas Mogensen, Danish;

Luca Parmitano, Italian;

Timothy Peake, British;

Thomas Pesquet, French.

They were selected following a Europe-wide recruitment process that started last year. Following thorough psychological, medical and professional screening that started with 8413 valid applications, they are the first new recruits to join the European Astronaut Corps since 1992 under ESA's second astronaut selection round.

ESA astronauts can only be selected from countries that are ESA Member States. These are Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.